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A statement released by Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, says Bernard Gernay of Howell, N.J., Bradley Horne of Sunset, S.C., and Jarrod Oldridge of Las Vegas acknowledged that they altered jerseys obtained from retail outlets and other sources to make them appear to be used in games by pro athletes, substantially increasing their value.

The charges stem from a four-year investigation into fraud in the sports memorabilia industry that has been conducted by the Chicago FBI and other federal agencies. Executives from some of the most prominent companies in sports memorabilia – including Legendary Auctions, Grey Flannel, Professional Sports Authenticators and now-defunct Mastro Auctions – have been questioned at sports memorabilia shows in recent years.

Plea agreements filed in federal court on Monday say Gernay, Horne and Oldridge have agreed to provide information to investigators and testify in civil or criminal proceedings – which may mean that the dealers will be used by federal prosecutors as witnesses in cases against other memorabilia industry executives.

Sentencing is scheduled for May 2, 2012. The maximum prison sentence for mail fraud is 20 years.

Oldridge is the owner of JO Sports Co., a Las Vegas company that has contracts with the Jets and several other teams to sell jerseys, helmets, game balls and other memorabilia that were used in NFL games.

It would be interesting to know what items were fraudulent and which manufacturers purchased them. Really makes you wonder whether any of the stuff in what you own is real? It also sounds like these guys will testify and probably get reduced sentences for cooperating. I sure as heck hope not. They ought to have to forfeit their assets illegally gained from these sales and those funds ought to be put randomly into packs of cards.

It would be interesting to know what items were fraudulent and which manufacturers purchased them. Really makes you wonder whether any of the stuff in what you own is real? It also sounds like these guys will testify and probably get reduced sentences for cooperating. I sure as heck hope not. They ought to have to forfeit their assets illegally gained from these sales and those funds ought to be put randomly into packs of cards.

Ditto

I hate stuff like this.. we pay a lot to complete sets or add nice pieces to our collections.. and now Im doubting if anything is real.. and its not like autos are 100% sure.. its a cruel hobby in deed

For more info on this story click here.Sports Collectors Daily11/23/2011

That is horrible that collectors might never know. Guess we still might not know either way, but there should be restitution for the collectors who spent hundreds to thousands to millions on packs in hopes of those hits only to find out "possibly" some of them were fake. Our justice system really leaves something to be desired, when people like this can swindle thousands of collectors and get nothing but a few years. Everybody gets a plea bargain deal, nobody serves time, its no wonder people commit crimes, there is no punishment anymore.